Job Search Solutions

Job Search Solutions Blog by Tony Beshara

Monthly Archives: April 2008

…today one of my candidates got called by an employer i sent him to a month ago…the candidate called him as the employer told him to do…candidate called the guy close to 25 or 30 times over two or three weeks…never got a return call

frankly, i and you know that is rude…i kept telling my candidate to keep calling…don’t take it personally…these hiring folks will tell you that hiring is a priority but not call you back even though they say they will…rude, rude, rude

well, today, out of the blue, the hiring authority calls the candidate, tells him that he’d like to see him tomorrow and talk about an offer…never apologizes or acknowledges his never returning the calls…nothing..

well, the job is a good one..so, my candidate is going to go to the interview tomorrow and talk to the guy…

lesson…never take it personally…we won’t know why the employer didn’t return the calls, but the job is still good one and the candidate should consider it…

…the saturday interviews…well, the CEO brought her six year old to the office with her…while she interviewed…

even worse…one of our candidates, who had his daughter for the weekend..(he’s divorced) couldn’t find a baby sitter on such short notice, so he took his eight year old daughter with him to the interview…with crayons and all…instructed her to wait in the reception area of the company..

between the CEO and this candidate, they talked about kids most of the time…very little about his qualifications, etc.

the other interviews didn’t go much better…it is hard to get someone’s attention when they have their six year old with them doing anything..

try not to interview on a saturday morning…stay home with the kids and watch power rangers or something like that!

my candidate got hired…in the second and third interviews he asked great questions:….”what is my competition like?…what do i need to do to make it clear that i am your best candidate?…are there any concerns about my experience that i need to make clear?… what, in your eyes, might be concerns about hiring me?…what, in your eyes, are my greatest strengths relative to this job?”

one of my candidates has been waiting three weeks for an offer he was told he was going to get…it was not my client, thank goodness…but i kept telling him to keep interviewing…but he wouldn’t listen…it was his dream job..

he has been calling the hiring authority every three or four days…has a start date and has been told, “no problem”..

well, today he found out that the hiring authority is going to be promoted…good for him..bad for my candidate..

they are going to wait on hiring…either promote from within or hire a new manager from outside the company..

sadly, the hiring authority knew this was a possibility a month ago, but wanted to hedge his bet, that if he didn’t get promoted he would hire my candidate…he was dealing to what was best for him and not the candidate..

lesson: don’t believe a damn word about “we are going to hire you”..until you get an offer letter..

he is one of four finalist for a V.P. of the West for a company..he goes into the executive interview with the CEO, the Exec. V.P. and two other V.P.’s…he makes a presentation of what he would do in the first 30-60-90 days with a plan modeled after what the program taught him…

he gets the job…turns out he is the only candidate that did anything like that….$180,000 base and with bonuses he will make $400,000…not bad for simply following instructions

…one of my candidates got hired today by an employer i sent him to…………eight months ago…the candidate kept calling the employer even after he had been eliminated…not too often, but every two or three weeks…the employer never did call the guy back…but, timing is sometimes everything…when my client’s first hire resigned after eight months, my candidate just happened to call and……he got hired after one meeting…

i got an interview for one of my candidates that i have known for a number of years…he is very picky and the kind of job he needs is very hard to find..

when i told him about the interiew, he started giving me this stuff about..”well, i know them…i wouldn’t work there…they know me…i don’t want to go…i don’t think they can afford me..it doesn’t sound right” blah..blah..blah…

i threatened him that if he didn’t go, i wouldn’t get him any more interviews…i shared with him that he is a pain in the butt and that he needs to go on any interview he can, because he is hard to place and kind of people that would hire him are very hard to find…

he went…

he starts work for these guys monday…$143,000 salary plus commission that will put him at $300,000 the first year… a $20,000 HIGHER base than he was making..

LESSON: ..go on every interview you can get…you really don’t know “them” like you think you do…what a job “sounds” like has nothing to do with reality… don’t make a $143,000 mistake

you remember the guy who lied on his resume..well the #2 candidate who was told “no” two weeks ago is now being hired…Lesson: hang in there..just because you came in second or third …don’t give up…you never know…